Vehicle safety improvements and the rise of interest in automated navigation and control of vehicles have led to the inclusion of different types of remote sensing equipment installed on vehicles. These sensors can include one or more radars, ultrasonic sensors, light beam scanning devices, visible light camera devices, infrared camera devices, near-infrared camera devices, and depth camera devices which can include one or more light-scanning devices, including LIDAR devices, etc. Automated navigation and control systems may process data collected by the sensors in order to detect and characterize objects in the environment for various purposes.
One purpose for detecting and characterizing objects in the environment is to increase efficiency and safety of travel, which can also reduce travel times, decrease fuel usage, reduce environmental pollution associated with vehicular travel, and decrease overall travel costs, among other potential benefits. However, few systems attempt to address traffic flow concerns from the perspective of a particular vehicle.
Current technologies include GPS-based navigation applications that can display real-time traffic conditions to a vehicle operator; analyze traffic conditions, a vehicle destination, and mapping data; and recommend a travel route based on various user-configured or default preferences. Other technologies allow for detection of surrounding vehicles and other traffic obstacles, primarily with the intent to help prevent collisions, as in the case of blind-spot detection and warning devices and similar systems. Some modern cruise control systems, such as a typical “adaptive cruise control” system pursue a target vehicle speed and may adjust speed for safety purposes (e.g. to maintain a safe following distance). However, none of these systems addresses traffic flow at a vehicle level, for example by directing an operator of a vehicle to a lane that is flowing more efficiently than the vehicle's current travel lane.